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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1997

AT
(202) 616-2771
TDD (202) 514-1888

FORMER ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES PURCHASING AGENT IN FLORIDA & MICHIGAN
CHARGED IN NEW YORK WITH CONSPIRING TO COMMIT MAIL FRAUD

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A former alcoholic beverages purchasing
agent in Florida and Michigan pleaded guilty today to conspiring
to defraud his employers of about $850,000 he received as
kickbacks from suppliers of display materials used to advertise
and promote products in retail stores, said the Department of
Justice.

To date, 12 individuals and four corporations have pleaded
guilty or agreed to plead guilty to various federal charges as a
result of the Department of Justice's ongoing antitrust
investigation of bid-rigging, commercial bribery and tax related
offenses in the display industry. In addition, two individuals
and four corporations are awaiting trial in New York on charges
arising from the same investigation.

The Department's Antitrust Division filed criminal charges
today in federal court in the Southern District of New York
(New York City) against Irwin Englander, of Fort Lauderdale,
Florida. The case charged that Englander conspired with others
to defraud his employers — Hiram Walker & Sons Inc. and its
subsidiary, W.A. Taylor Inc. — of about $850,000 he received as
kickbacks from suppliers of point-of-purchase display materials.

The Department said that the unnamed co-conspirators — display materials companies in New Jersey and Wisconsin — agreed
to pay Englander kickbacks on the contracts that Englander
awarded the companies. Most of the kickback payments were sent
to Englander by mail. The conspiracy took place from July 1988
until February 1994.

Point-of-purchase display materials are used to advertise
and display various kinds of consumer goods, primarily in retail
stores.

Joel I. Klein, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge
of the Antitrust Division, said the charges stem from an
investigation in New York City into collusive practices by
suppliers of point-of-purchase display materials. Klein said the
investigation, being conducted by the Antitrust Division's New
York field office with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service, is continuing.

Hiram Walker & Sons Inc., a manufacturer, importer and
distributor of alcoholic beverages, is located in Southfield,
Michigan. The now defunct Miami-based W.A. Taylor Inc. was also
an importer and distributor of alcoholic beverages.

The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of
participating in a conspiracy to commit mail fraud is five years
in prison and a fine not to exceed the greatest of $250,000,
twice the pecuniary gain derived from the crime or twice the
pecuniary loss caused to the victims, together with the costs of
the prosecution.

Anyone with information concerning bid rigging, bribery or
fraud in the display industry should contact the New York
Division of the FBI at (212) 384-1000.